Composite materials are used extensively today in many applications such as aircraft exteriors. Their weight and strength make these materials very desirable. One drawback in their application, however, is the unpredictability of their mechanical behavior. This unpredictability, however, can be mitigated with the use of optical fibers sensors imbedded within the composite materials. Imbedding the optical fibers presents no technological difficulty, but joining them together with optical fibers in other composite panels does present a problem. The difficulties include locating the optical fiber after the composite panel is machined, and aligning the optical fiber with other connecting optical fibers. Also, the loss of light transmission due to reflections in the coupling area, and debris in the coupling and the optical fibers are of concern.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fiber optic connector and method for use with which fiber optics imbedded in separate panels can be easily joined.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fiber optic connector and method for use with which provides a means for easily locating imbedded optical fibers after the composite material has been machined.
Further, it is another object of the present invention to provide a fiber optic connector and method for use in which the loss of light transmission is minimized.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a fiber optic connector and method for use in which the amount of debris in the coupling and the optical fibers is minimized.